Cloudkicker
Fade
Independent (2012)
If there's any one artist who should make you happy to listen to music, it's Ben Sharp, aka Cloudkicker. Though releasing free music on the Internet isn't anything new, it's safe to say that, in terms of quality, Sharp's in a class all his own. He also voluntarily remains unsigned from a label, ensuring that his music will continue to be free and he'll never have the stress of needing to write as a day job, as well as keeping his music unfettered by commercial needs. And, to boot, all of the money he does make off of his project gets invested right back into the next album. If there's any one person who represents the idealistic pinnacle of art for the sake of art, it has to be this fellow, whose newest offering, Fade, was released in August this year.Fade may be seen as a return-to-form for those who were uninterested in Sharp's last albums, as it strikes more of a balance between the polar-opposed post-rock of Let Yourself Be Huge and Loop and the ferocious math metal of The Discovery and Beacons. It falls somewhere between Pelican and Mogwai on the post-rock scale, occasionally flirting with the heaviness … Read more
Japandroids
Celebration Rock
Polyvinyl (2012)
Japandroids, a Canadian two-piece rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, has released their second full length album entitled Celebration Rock. … Read more
Barren Earth
The Devil's Resolve
Peaceville (2012)
If there’s anything I love, it’s some fucking metal. And if there’s any band out there that can deliver some … Read more
Storm Corrosion
Self Titled
Roadrunner (2012)
Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt are both two musicians I hold in incredibly high esteem. Wilson’s flabbergasting diversity of styles … Read more
